Dedicated to Hispanic Heritage 
and Diversity Issues

Editor: Mimi Lozano, mimilozano@aol.com

Visibility Issues
     Washington, D.C.
United States
     Molecular Genealogy
     S.S. Death Index
     Census Information
     National Cemetery Admin.
     Military Collection
     Hispanic Media
     Mixed Identity
     Columbus Day
     Business Statistics
     Hispanic Media
     POW-MIA Records    
Orange County, California
     December 5, Old Court House
     December 17, Las Posadas
     Beginning Research Classes
     Hispanic Chamber 
     Liberia Martinez
     Cesar E. Chavez Museum
Los Angeles, CA
     LatinoLibrary.com eNews
     LatinoLa website
     Too Many Tamales
California
     Statistics/ Recommended Sites
     Language Rights
     Cemeteries Preserved
     Historical Snapshots
     Labels}
     Southern California
     San Francisco
     San Diego
     

Mexico
NEW BOOK: "My Family Through Time: The Story of a Mexican-American Family"  
     Mexico vital records CDs
     Mensajero
     Mexico City
     Metropolitan Cathedral
     Archivo General
Caribbean/Cuba
     Cuban Missionary in Calif.
International News
     La Jornada
     Asians in Latin America
     Surnames in Italy
     Irish in Argentina
     Letters of Philip II
History
     Migrant Ships
     Message Boards
     Co-lateral Ancestors
     Facts to Consider
     American Memory Project
     Confederate Pensions
     Rivadeneira
Miscellaneous
     A Tablecloth
     Un Angel y un Amigo
     
Please note:  
For a quick scan, all the geographical division can be clicked on.     

Society of 
Hispanic Historical
and Ancestral
Research 

Founded
1986

With deep-felt thanks we sadly release two dedicated Board members who have served generously for many years:
Charles Sadler, our Web Jefe, guided us onto the Intenet, setting up and maintaining our home page since 1994. 
Teresa Maldonado Parker, our community liaison opened many doors, expanding our visions and outreach.

VISIBILITY ISSUES

The Hispanic Reading Room 
of the 
Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress

                                                  http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/hispanic

The Hispanic Reading Room of the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress is truly one of the hidden treasures in Washington, DC. Through the generosity of countless donors, the Library of Congress has amassed the world's finest collection on the history and culture of Latin America, Iberia, and the Caribbean. We owe our thanks to the wealth accumulated by the Central Pacific railroad giant, Collis P. Huntington.

It was his second wife’s son, Archer M. Huntington who became fascinated by the presence and history of the  Hispanic culture,  first in the American Southwest and then worldwide.  He started collecting books, documents, and artifacts since the age of 12. In 1904 he and his wife founded the Hispanic Society of America. Headquartered in New York. In 1927, Archer Huntington established an endowment fund in his name to assure continued financial support for the Hispanic Society of America’s library and museum in New York and related projects.

His generosity, vision and effort was responsible for a second "area studies division," the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, was founded in 1939. The Hispanic Division was established to acquire Luso-Hispanic (Luso refers to Portuguese) materials in a systematic fashion. In that same year, the division's reading room, The "Hispanic Society Reading Room," named after the Hispanic Society of New York, was inaugurated to service the Library's growing Luso-Hispanic collections.

The major problem is that you have to know the Hispanic Reading Room exists and it’s existence is not well publicized. Plus, even if you know it is there, it is very difficult to find it. Access to the Hispanic Reading Room from the front of the Library of Congress is complicated. The Reading Room is at the very back of the multi-floored library, with stairs, hallways, passages, and special elevators needed to reach it. You can only use the easy access backdoor entrance with a special researchers permit. Thus the casual tourist is not aware of its fabulous collection.

The staff is highly qualified and dedicated to promoting and facilitating the use of their collection. The Society of Hispanic Historical and Ancestral Research has been in correspondence with Reynaldo Aguirre, Senior Bibliographic Specialist, for almost ten years. Dr. Georgette Magassy Dorn is the Chief of the Hispanic Division, and Everette E. Larson, PhD is the Head of the Hispanic Reading Room. They need our support and interest.

Dr. Georgette Magassy Dorn, gdor@loc.gov
Everette E. Larson, PhD, elar@loc.gov
Reynaldo Aguirre, Reynaldo.Aguirre@const.loc.gov

On September 19, 2000 the Library of Congress celebrated their kickoff to 2000 National Hispanic Heritage Month with a presentation by Dr. John R.Hébert, PhD, Chief, Geography and Map Division.

I met Dr. Hébert in 1998 when he was the Senior Specialist in Hispanic Bibliography and coordinator (1989-1993) of the Library of Congress’ Quincentenary Program, and author of An Ongoing Voyage 1492-1992. As current Chief of the Geography and Map Division, he has already produced The Luso-Hispanic World in Maps, a Selective Guide to Manuscript maps to 1900 in the Collections of the Library of Congress, an outstanding work.

Dr. Hébert is spear-heading a drive to purchase for the Library of Congress, The Martin Waldseemuller World Maps of 1507 and 1516. The 1507 map is the first world map in which the name "America" appears for the lands of the New World. The 1516 is the first map derived from secret nautical charts showing the discoveries of Portuguese and Spanish seafarers. As a pair, these two maps provide, respectively, the first modern cosmography of the world, and the first nautical chart of the world.

Dr. Hébert is seeking major funds to purchase these unique maps, The combined cost is $14 million for America’s birth certificate, so many sources are being sought to support this acquisition.

To contact him: Dr. John R. Hébert, Chief, Geography and Map Division
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540
202.707.1992 fax 202.707.8531 or email: jheb@loc.gov

I attended the September 19^th and was greatly moved by Dr. Hébert’s vision. Dr. Hébert, was kind enough to give me his draft copy, right out of his pocket, with corrections and all. j It is presented as delivered in its entirety.

A view for the future includes knowledge of the past. Thus begins yet another Hispanic Heritage Month at the Library of Congress and what is planned and what will transpire over the next 30 days are a number of truly exciting presentations, discussions, demonstrations, performances, etc. It is our once in a year opportunity to show off, to talk only about culture and its meaning today and its meaning from the past. And the committee has done yet again a stellar job of putting together a most interesting program, to highlight us, or to stimulate us through the participation of inside and outside specialists and noteworthy persons.

But, let me switch gears a bit, and talk about what we should be doing the remainder of the 11 months of the year, not designated Hispanic Heritage Month, because that is the challenge to us today. By the way, I believe that this is my primary responsibility today.

Back in early April I presented a paper at a joint Phillips Society (the friends of the Geography and Map Division) and California Map Society meeting held at the famous Huntington Library in a suburb of Los Angeles. Attending the meeting were map specialists, historians, and map lovers and collectors from all over the US, and abroad, but especially from California, both south and north. I spoke of a special collection of maps, actually a manuscript atlas, in the Library’s Geography and Map Division, prepared in Mexico in 1799 near the end of the Spanish colonial period. Through a series of 25 maps the Spanish navy, in geographically progressive order, indicated the exploratory activities of the Spanish fleet over a period of 25 years in visiting the Pacific coast of North America from Acapulco to the Alaskan Peninsula. Of special interest were the maps prepared of the area from the Columbia River in northern Oregon to Unalaska on the far western curve of the Alaska coast. After I spoke about the maps and what they represented I was surprised to learn from this California audience that they had little knowledge, if any, that the Spanish had ever sailed or settled north of San Francisco. And yet, in 1790 they had settled on Vancouver Island, north of the Strait of Juan de Fuca (Seattle) and had contested English presence in the area. Of course all of this exploration had begun because they had learned that the Russians were in Alaska, and wanted to push them out if possible. But more a threat to them was the English presence. And as they contested the British presence they established their own, which in later years fell to the United States, thus Spain preserved for this country a vast geographical space.

Of course the same story of Spain and the United States can be told in the Golf Coast area, around Louisiana and Florida. All of us present are fully aware of the Spanish assistance in many ways during the American Revolutionary War. In fact, their money and their presence in Louisiana and along the Mississippi River and the manner in which they removed the Spanish at Mobile and Pensacola in 1781 saved that vital area of what is now the United States. And the British threat to what this country became was never more evident in that part of the world than in 1815 when the British tried again, during the War of 1812 to take the Mississippi river through an attack on New Orleans. Thus clearly indicating that Spanish in 1781 had once again saved what could be U.S. territory. These are historical accounts, and they may hold little interest to us here today, but they point to the lasting and vital impact that Spain and people of Hispanic culture have had on this country. Of course as many of you are aware, the Library is now involved in an ambitious project to place on line materials related to the parallel histories of the United States frontier with Spain in North America. This project involves the participation of collections in Spain and the United States and is tentatively covering the period 1492 to 1898. It is ambitious but it is necessary because it places into real context the extent in geographical space and in time the long and enduring presence of Spanish culture in the United State, a culture very evident after 500 years and still evolving.

Why do I relate these more than 200 year old tales? This is why. That which I described is richly documented here in the Library of Congress’ collections. We who work in this institution are quite fortunate because we are in daily contact with the very descriptions and the rich documents which speak eloquently of the enduring legacy of Hispanic culture in the United States. And, if we do not document and tell that story of the Hispanic presence, and continuing presence, then perhaps no one else will. We, who commemorate and celebrate this time of recognition of Hispanic heritage, from mid-September to mid-October, should challenge ourselves to research and write the history of the Hispanic influence in the United States. Perhaps for our own knowledge but definitely for out vast and varied public. We should identify those unique stories about Hispanic culture that lurk in our huge collection. Our story is yet to be told, and it will only be told by those who seek it out. And it can be those who work here in the Library of Congress. What greater opportunity exists for those of us, who are minding the store, the Library of congress, to make those stories known and better known. While we study issues today about Hispanics and education, and health, and politics, and business, and sports, the law, and immigration, we still must rest those valuable contemporary concerns on a clear understanding of where we have been. Where we have been is here available for the taking in this greatest of research libraries; there is no equal to what is collectively available in these collections. And perhaps one we understand where we have been and what is here, the development of a research guide to inform others of the strength of these collections can be published. The challenges are there; are we up the challenge or are we willing to accept that which others say we are.

So now let us celebrate and commemorate Hispanic heritage during these next 30 days but a year from now let us meet once again to more fully reveal what we know about ourselves.

                                                                                            Return to Table of Contents

UNITED STATES

                     BYU- DNA Molecular Genealogy Research Study

Would you like to participate in a genetic study? The Molecular Genealogy Research Group is very interested in people with known genealogies that would be willing to participate in this study and help in building this database. Being 18 and older and having at least a four-generation pedigree chart are the only two qualifications in order to take part in this study.  This is a world-wide project with plans to collect 100,000 samples.

Write to the Molecular Research Lab or check out their Web site  to find out when samples will be collected in a location near to you. Also, if you can organize a group of 150+ people who are willing to participate in the study (such as a Family Reunion group), the research group will make arrangements to come to you sooner.

To Read More: The Molecular Genealogy Research Group is working to build a database of genetic family trees which will eventually enable anyone, including people with "brick wall" genealogies such as adoptions, illegitimacies or missing records, to trace their origins. Learn how you can become a part of this great research project!
http://molecular-genealogy.byu.edu

The study is supervised by the Principal Investigator, Dr. Scott R. Woodward, Ph.D..  
Ugo A. Perego is the director of public relations. Contact him to set up a group.  molecular-genealogy@email.byu.edu

Molecular Geneaology Research Group, 788, WID8
Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602
Phone: (801) 378-1245  

Forwarded  by Bill Doty, Gloria Oliver and Alex King,  shared by Sheila A Muniain

Social Security Death Index (SSDI)

http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/

The September 2000 SSDI update is in place at RootsWeb. This version contains 172,922 new records and a total of 64,553,230 records.

Sent by George Gause
 ggause@panam.edu

 Available to the public in April 2002.  Will include the following categories which weren’t on the 1920 census form: value of home or amount of monthly rent; radio set; whether on a farm; age at first marriage; whether at work the previous day; if a veteran, of what war; for Indians, whether full or mixed blood and tribal affiliation.

The Family Tree, October/November 2000

This site is made available with the cooperation and consent of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The data displayed here were initially created by ICPSR.

http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/census/

Sent by Johanna de Soto 

Census Bureau's Public 
Information Office
Tel: 301-457-3030; Fax: 301-457-3670; 
E-mail: pio@census.gov .

For up to date information check out the census-bureau-alert mailing list.
census-bureau-alert@lists.census.gov

http://lists.census.gov/mailman/listinfo/
census-bureau-alert

Sent by George Gause

http://www.interment.net/column/records/nca/index.htm  

http://www.usigs.org/library/military
    /index.htm

Johanna de Soto

Between 1987 and 1992, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses increased 76 %, and revenue increased 134%, US businesses as a whole increased 26%, while revenue over-all grew by 67%.

Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Orange County

Sent by Pamela Koppel

For a free subscription to this e. newsletter, reply "Subscribe." Please 
forward this to your friends. Send your free listing to: amigos@latinola.com

 Archived "From Our Amigos" are available on our website. 

NEW CHICANO PUBLICATION ON THE HORIZON
From: Richard Santana at macias@stat.ucla.edu 

A publication, tentatively called Chicanismo Magazine, will be geared to all followers of Chicanismo internationally. Activist news, opinion editorials from some of the biggest names in Chicanismo, continued coverage of stories that mainstream news only mentions or forgets altogether are just a few components of the new publication. Followers of El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan, activists, nationalists, Chicana feminists and indigenistas have never had a publication with 
a truly national perspective. Chicanismo Magazine will be a perfect way to see what is happening with others involved en la lucha. First and foremost, we need interested readers. So if this is something you are interested in, e-mail now at hectorchavanajr@aol.com   and let us know whether you are "very interested" or "somewhat interested." Secondly, we need exposure, so if you are in charge of internet communication for an organization please forward it to your members. 
Third, but no less important, we need freelance writers. We also need feedback. Let us know what you think about our plans so far.
                                                                                                           Return to Table of Contents

Mixed Identity

Eighteen year old Michelle Santana live in a world of racial strife, divisions, and classifications.  Michelle's was born in Mexico and Spanish is first language.  Her mother is from Mexico, her biological father is Black and stepfather is Puerto Rican.  

Although Michelle thinks of herself as Latina, she said that most Hispanic people don't think I'm Hispanic.  Finding friendship among a circle of  Black classmates, Michelle was told "You're not black, you're not being raised black."  

Michelle has experience a lot of pain in trying to fit in and said, "I can't classify myself into one culture because my cultures are so different.. . Why do I have to act a certain way with all my cultures?  I can't choose one culture." 

Article by Yvette Cabrera, Orange County Register, 10-10-00 

                                                 Commentary by Charley Reese

                               Published in The Orlando Sentinel on October 12, 2000

One of the absurdities of these politically correct (read neo-totalitarian) times is that Columbus Day, once a great American holiday, is almost never observed anymore.

Christopher Columbus, poor fellow, is politically incorrect. He was first of all a white European. I don't know how he could have prevented that, but he's blamed for it anyway.

Second, he was a Christian. White Christian males are about the only category of human being that it is still permissible to berate and stereotype.

Third, he was a man of great accomplishment. Nobody hates people of great accomplishment more than these bilious socialist pseudo-intellectuals who have built a political movement based on envy and are themselves without any accomplishments worthy of note.

The real sin committed against Columbus is the same one committed against other historical figures. The poor fellow is snatched out of his time and place and tried in the dock by late-20th-century standards. This is a very common sin committed by people who are a living example of the old adage that a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Columbus was a great navigator, a great seaman and a man of great courage and determination. He spent years trying to persuade people to finance his dream of reaching the East Indies by sailing due west.

Post-modern types who probably couldn't identify the capitals of their own country's states, much less the islands of the Caribbean, often mock Columbus for not having known that the landmass of North, Central and South America lay between Spain and the East Indies.

Imagine that. He must have forgotten to check the Internet, or maybe he had allowed his subscription to National Geographic to expire. The truth is that nobody in Europe knew about the existence of the lands in the Western Hemisphere at that time except, perhaps, a few Vikings who were not in the habit of hanging out in Spain.

Columbus was far more knowledgeable of his world than most of his critics are of their world. More important, he was a man of action, willing to risk his life to realize his dreams. That he could set sail with his three rickety boats and manage to keep the crews from mutiny shows great leadership qualities.

The Spaniards did mistreat the Indians. Of course, what critics forget is that the Indians mistreated people they didn't like, too. One of the most foolish aspects of this business is the silly idea that the Indians lived in Paradise until the Europeans came along and messed it up. You wouldn't think it much of a paradise if you were a slave or a human sacrifice.

The Indians were no different from the Europeans, except that they were technologically less advanced. Although many died from diseases brought in by the Europeans, they also gave the Europeans some new diseases to take back with them.

All of human history is a story of tragedy and triumph, of nobility and meanness, of kindness and cruelty. We should accept the people of the past for who they were, just as today we are who we are. Nothing that came from Columbus approaches the barbaric and murderous behavior we have seen in our own century.

Technology changes, but human nature doesn't. People today are no better than people were in Columbus' day. People are being imprisoned, enslaved, killed and tortured all over this planet even as you read this. You may do what you like, but I shall celebrate Columbus's great achievement.

 Submitted by Carmen Boone de Aguilar    raguilar@mail.internet.com.mx

                                                                                                       Return to Table of Contents

POW-MIA RECORDS

Database contains 11848 records (6916 distinct surnames)

http://userdb.rootsweb.com/pow_mia/

Most information in this database comes from the United States Department of Defense, Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO). This information is current as of 7/16/2000 and additional information may be available on the DPMO Internet Web Site, or war specific as follows:

Cold War: http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/pmcold/
Vietnam War: http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/pmsea/
Korean War: http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/pmkor/

Submitted by Johanna de Soto

ORANGE COUNTY, California

The Old Courthouse Museum and the Libraries of the University of California, Irvine cordially invite you to a reception and lecture by Karen Merrill, Assistant Professor of History, UCI
Orange County: The View from the East in conjunction with the exhibits

Gold Fever! Untold Stories of the California Gold Rush
Nature's Wonderland: Glimpses of Early Orange County 
from U.C. Irvine's Special Collections
and 
Fire in the Morning: Historic Colonias of Orange County, 1920s-1960s
at the Old Courthouse Museum
Tuesday, December 5, 2000
Exhibits and Reception, 6:00 p.m. - Lecture, 7:00 p.m.
Please RSVP to (714) 834-4691 or (714) 834-3703
Free parking at UCI Family Health Center, Sycamore St. and Civic Center Drive West
Free

The Orange Family History Center, 
674 S. Yorba, Orange  is holding regularly scheduled beginning classes for family history researchers. ( 714) 997-7710
Saturdays at 1 p.m . 
Tuesday nights at  7 p.m.

Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

November 14 the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Orange County held their daylong Business Expo 2000   Sixty exhibitors participated and 1,200 guests attended.  The event was  co-sponsored by 11 other ethnic and city business groups illustrating a trend among local chambers of commerce originally formed to bring together business people along ethnic or geographic lines: As Orange County becomes increasingly ethnically diverse, these groups are reaching out to network and build business ties with each other.  

A study funded by the Merrill Lynch Foundation noted that "Southern California is home to the largest base of multiethnic entrepreneurs in the country. These owners are at the heart of (the region's) thriving economy." Among owners of Orange county firms in the study 75% have some college education, 67 percent are men and 85% are foreign born.

Among an impressive gathering of speakers was former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Henry Cisneros, luncheon speaker. Cisneros called this era the greatest chapter in Hispanic business history.  for the first time, he said, the group is being recognized for its growing political power, $400 billion in purchasing power, opportunities for young people and increasing number of entrepreneurs.

Orange County has the fifth-largest Hispanic population in the U.S.

Extracted:  Orange County Register  November 12 and 15, 2000          Return to Table of Contents

Libreria Martinez, Books & Art Gallery
1110 N. Main St. Santa Ana, Ca 92701
(714) 973-7900 (714) 973-7902 fax

http://www.latinobooks.com

The mission of Martínez Books and Art Gallery is to promote Latino literature and art. At the heart of their effort is their commitment to inspire in schools and communities a greater appreciation for education, art and culture.

By showcasing top-notch regional, national and international Latino authors and artists, we are building a business which provides educational value to our society and fosters long-term relationships with customers and friends.

“An American Leader, Cesar E. Chavez” at the Anaheim Museum"
October 25, 2000 - April 7, 2001

This exhibition celebrates the life and times of Cesar E. Chavez through a unique collection of artistic photographs and historical insight into the United Farm Workers and the American Civil 
Rights Movement. The Cesar E. Chavez photographs on display are the work of UFW staff members, as well as local and internationally recognized photographers. The exhibition is made up of timeless images of Chavez with various well-known personalities, California political leaders and the American people with whom he worked. This exhibition brings to teachers, students and the general public, historical, literary and artistic documentation that testifies to the life of a great American and his place in our country’s history. 

Farm Worker Movement site at http://www.ufw.org  
and/or subscribe to the Farm Worker Movement, e-mail to UFW-subscribe@topica.com.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

LatinoLibrary.com eNews

Another new site with abundant calendar information. 

LatinoLibrary.com eNews  invites readers to visit their website at: http://www.latinolibrary.com 
If you have anything you would like to share with the Community, email: mail@latinolibrary.com

LatinoLibrary.com now has available "On-line Registration" for all events. The site is providing a service to help organizations expand their  audience for events. For more information send an email to events@latinolibrary.com

 LATINOLA 

Published every Monday by LatinoLA at http://www.LatinoLA.com 

For a free subscription to this e.newsletter, reply "Subscribe." Please forward this to your friends. Classifieds can be submitted by registered subscribers. 
Send your free listing to: amigos@latinola.com

LatinoLAs conducted a survey of its readers.  The survey results are:

Surveys returned:
 18 percent. Male - 37  percent; Female - 63 percent.. 
Age range: 
18 to 35 years - 52 percent; 
36 to 50 years - 43 percent; 
and 51 + years - 5 percent.
Household Income: 
Less than $20,000 - 1 percent; 
$20,000 to $35,000 13 percent; 
$35,000 to $50,000 - 23 percent; 
$50,000 to $75,000 - 25 percent; 
and more than $75,000 - 38 percent.

CALIFORNIA

According to the Moraga Historical Society, located in Moraga, California, the earliest Moraga the Americas in 1604. Their name was Moraga. It is believed that they came from the high Basque country in northern Spain. This web site is a geneaological tour of my family. To begin the tour, click on "Moraga" below. http://www.library.arizona.edu/moraga/

Johanna de Soto 

Recommended sites 

Pat Godinez who works with 4th,5rh, and 6th graders found the following sites of particular interest.

We also got to study Spanish explorers and some of the best were Balboa, Coronado, Cortes, and Portola. We were introduced to Father Junipero Serra and the best site of all that I found was from a school in Newhall, Calif. They show all 21 missions. See http://www.newhall.k12.ca.us/newhall/cyberserra.htm

We loved looking close up at some of the missions that Mervyns has sold the last few years. From my collection, we got to see the missions of San Diego de Alcala (#1), San Carlos Borremeo (#2), where Father Serra used as his headquarters, and La Purisima (#11) in Lompoc. The last is my personal favorite as I grew up in near by Mission Hills and have visited many times.

The last site which I came across and have shared with my Spanish Adult Night School* is this: http://explora.presidencia.gob.mx/pages_kids/history/biographies/biohidalgo_kids.htm
  It is so fantastic. It is in English, Spanish, and French. If you go down to the bottom and hit on Home, it will take you to a new part where if you hit on Explore, you can see the different states of Mexico and learn a little about them.                                     

                                                                                                  Return to Table of Contents

Spanish Language Rights in California:
Debates over the 1879 Constitution

By the time California's first constitution was drafted in 1849, the Gold Rush had already transformed the state's Spanish-speakers into a minority (13,000 of nearly 100,000 residents). Without opposition, however, delegates to the constitutional convention approved an important recognition of Spanish language rights: "All laws, decrees, regulations, and provisions emanating from any of the three supreme powers of this State, which from their nature require publication, shall be published in English and Spanish." To some, this step seemed legally required by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), in which Mexico had ceded nearly half its territory to the United States. Although the treaty made no explicit reference to language rights, Article IX guaranteed, among other things, that Mexicans who chose to remain on the conquered lands would enjoy "all the rights of citizens of the United States ... and in the mean time shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty and property, and secured in the free exercise of their religion without restriction."

By 1878, however, when Californians met to revise their state constitution, support for minority language rights had waned. Not a single delegate to the convention came from a Spanish-language background. Moreover, the assembly was dominated by the nativist Workingmen's Party, which pushed through a number of draconian measures aimed at Chinese immigrants. In this climate the delegates not only eliminated the 1849 guarantee for Spanish-language publications, but also limited all official proceedings to English (a restriction that remained in effect until 1966), making California one of the nation's first "English only" states. The debate on this provision, and on an unsuccessful attempt to amend it, is excerpted from Debates and Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of the State of California, 1878-1879 (Sacramento: 1880-1881), vol. 2, pp. 801-2.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/1879con.htm

Sent by Johanna de Soto

In March 1998, a group of Northern California historians formed the Northern California Historic Cemetery Alliance (NCHCA) to address such pertinent issues as preservation, vandalism, deliberate destruction, and education. NCHCA was soon reorganized into the statewide California Historic Cemetery Alliance (CHCA) to assist in the networking of people interested in preserving, protecting and restoring pioneer cemeteries throughout California.

Many historic cemeteries are threatened by development, vandalism, or by being forgotten.  As the tombstones vanish, the existence of the cemetery is lost.  In time, titles to property may even cease to include any record of a cemetery.

An important object of CHCA is to compile a register of historic cemeteries in the state.  It is especially important to document locations of small, family, remote plots that are disappearing.

The Associated Historical Societies of Los Angeles County (ASHLAC) is actively soliciting information for this project.  Information may be obtained from Christie Bourdet (262) 792-1048, or by writing to: 
AHSLAC-CHCA Project, 1298 S. E. Molino Ave. Pasadena, CA 91105-4342 

AHSLAC Newsletter, 
Vol 2K, No.4, Sept 2000, via GSGA Newsletter, Vol 18, No 11 (November 2000)

California Snapshots

SNAPSHOTS, PART III and IV
Dr. Issac Cardenas, Department Chair, California State University, Fullerton and
Galal Kernahan, Los Amigos of Orange County

Final parts as presented September 9th, 2000 Sesquicentennial 
at California State University, Fullerton in Celebration of California's Statehood Admission 

Trainloads of Hurt

Thursday, February 26, 1931. Place: The Plaza in downtown Los Angeles. Officers sweep the area. Four hundred people are detained.

This is the second of a one-two punch. A month earlier the city's newspapers, including those published in Spanish, printed an ominous official warning. They announced an upcoming campaign to rid Los Angeles of all deportable aliens.

The Plaza is down by Union Station. Police scare tactics send a message. It is shock treatment. Actually, only 17 people are arrested, including 11 Latinos. It is an exercise in intimidation. Added to growing anti-immigrant hysteria, it helps swell a back-to-Mexico exodus.
The man in charge of the Border Patrol in those days, U.S. Secretary of Labor William Doak, demonized the undocumented. He ordered immigration authorities to go after 100,000 illegal aliens.

It was bluster. The U.S. Border Patrol had a workforce of 40; there were only 35 immigration agents in Greater Los Angeles.

Doak echoed his boss, the first U.S. President from California, Herbert Hoover, who denounced Mexicans as one of the causes of the economic depression. "They took jobs away from American citizens!" The irony is that a dozen years earlier as World War I Food Administrator, Hoover enthusiastically recruited Mexican farm workers.

After the 1929 stock market crash, the jobs picture steadily worsened. Many families decided to go back to Mexico anyway, but a few high-visibility deportations boosted blatant fear-mongering. Sixteen special trains left here for Mexico by way of El Paso.

The maze of rules and official warnings was confusing. American citizens - naturalized and native born - were swept into human rivers of the undocumented flowing south. Years later, when some sought to come back, they found they lost their U.S. citizenship by voting in an election or serving in the army in Mexico.

Victor Villasenor, author of the Latino best-seller, RAIN OF GOLD, recently finished its sequel, PRAYERS ANSWERED 13 SENSES. The ongoing story of his parents, it ends in 1931, when they make the momentous decision to stay here . . . no matter what.

Freedom to Wed

This 1948 scene challenges imagination. How do you create a riveting snapshot of the California Supreme Court handing down a decision? Some clerk passing someone a sheaf of papers" Not exactly a show-stopper.

Fifty-two years ago, the state's anti-miscegenation law was struck down. Inter-racial and inter-ethnic marriage was no longer illegal in California.

Beginning in 1880, California prohibited marriage between a white and "a negro, mulatto, or Mongolian." "Mongolian" was supposed to mean people like Chines, Japanese and Korean. In 1933, our state legislature added a similarly mixed category it called "Malay."

The Federal Cable Act of 1922, punished American women marrying aliens ineligible for American citizenship by revoking their own American citizenship.

In 1931, a Filipino man and Caucasian showed up at the office of the Los Angeles City Clerk. They asked for a marriage license. They were refused. The Superior Court and State Appellate Court ruled against the Clerk.  Three months later, a hurried law flew out of Sacramento banning intermarriage between "Malays" and Caucasians. It retroactively invalidated white-Filipino marriages.

Beginning in 1948, Californians have the right to choose for themselves with whom they will found families.

So where are we now - on this 150^th birthday of California Statehood? We are enjoying our role in the biggest U.S. economic boom ever. After 40 years of Cold War, our world in about as peaceful as it gets. Crime rates, especially those for youth crime, have dropped through the floor.

We are in late states of mostly successful Civil Rights movement. Just last week we learned there is no longer any demographic majority in California; all Californians can now be counted members of minority groups. Labor attitudes toward immigrants? Today, the AFL-CIO now backs a new amnesty for those who need to regularize their status.

There is still much to do. One Task: to rid the criminal justice system of pervasive profiling from the cop on the beat through prosecutors and judges to correctional personnel.

Nativism is ebbing. Latinos are becoming a vital part of California politics. Other ethnic and racial communities are becoming empowered.

Part IV

Loyalty to Family

Mexican American, whether they know it or not, set a centuries-old example. Gonzalo Guerrero, a Spanish soldier, and the daughter of the Maya chief of Chetumal became the Mexican Adam and Eve in the early 16^th century.

It was years before Hernan Cortez showed up. When he did first show up in Mexican waters, it was at Cozumel Island just off the East Coast of Yucatan. He heard of shipwrecked Spaniards ashore. He sent in word for them to join him.

One, named Jeronimo de Aguilar, was only to glad to. He went to Gonzalo Guerrero to urge him to leave, too. By then, Gonzalo had a family. He looked at his babies playing at his feet. He said, No ves que bonitos son? (Don't you see how beautiful they are?) These were the first mestizo children.

Suppose he had left. How would it have been for this children? We have seen sad answers to that question wherever soldiers father sons and daughters in distant lands and leave them. But Gonzalo stayed and became a great Maya military leader. His children knew their father, and he knew them. 

Today, in Mexico, the family is still basic. Mestizaje can be a source of pride. After all the bigotry and prejudice that stain California history, something hardly noticed has been happening.People are founding families with whomever their hearts desire. Ask Any Grandparent

Something recently reported in the media unbelievably shocking had it come out anytime in the first half of the Twentieth Century. Heavens! The people of California may be coming to look like the people of Hawaii! In Solano County - where Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, his friend Chief Mighty Arm and the Suisun tribe once lived, one in four births the last decade has been to parents of different races and ethnicities.

The trend:

Statewide in 1989, 1 in 7 California children born had parents of mixed race or ethnicity.In 1998m it was 1 in 6. The percentages vary across California. In Orange County, it has been 14.1% (which is between 1 in 7 and 1 in 6).

We have looked at five scattered snapshots from the first 150 years of the State of California. Now we close by inviting you to look at snapshots of California's tomorrow.

Just ask your nearest grandparent to get out purse or wallet. We have comment on all millennial California children. Bed they Spanish-Mayan or whatever their parentage: "Don't you see how beautiful they are?"

The End

                                                                                                        Return to Table of Contents

Labels

The following link is to a 5-minute audio piece that was broadcast October 20-26, 2000 on various public radio stations around the United States as part of the "Latino USA" program:
http://www.utexas.edu/coc/kut/latinousa/realaudio/393/californios.ram

(NOTE: Your computer must have audio capability in order to hear it--ideally, RealAudio. Sorry, no written transcript of it is currently available.)

It is an audio profile by Eric Roy entitled "Los Californios". It is a light overview and points out the particular loss of identity, invisibility and disappearance that seem to be abiding attributes of its current culture. The report concludes "...as today's few Californio descendants work to restore their heritage, Los Californianos' Vice President Boyd de Larios says 'their greatest task may be defining it'." 

[This report is just one part of Latino USA Program 393, which runs 29-minutes in its entirety, all or part of which can be accessed at http://www.latinousa.org/program/lusapgm393.html . (Audio tape copies of the program can be ordered from another page of the series' website.) It includes "sound bytes" from Shelley Hayes Caron (a Marron family descendant), the late Al Pico (a past-president of the Los Californianos organization), Maurice Bandy (the current president of the same), Ralph Corral (the genealogist of the same), Prof. Francisco Valderrama (Professor
of History & Chicano Studies at CalState-Los Angeles).

Submitted by Alex King.

Copyright, 1912 by Zoeth S. Eldredge, San Francisco

Printed By [in book form] John C. Rankin Company, 54 & 56 Dey Street, New York

Seventeen very full chapters with extensive notes and APPENDICES of:
A.  The Presidio of San Francisco
B.  The Streets of San Francisco
C.  Bucaréli to Rivera
D.  The Murder of Berreyesa and the De Haros
E.  Bibliography

Sent Johanna de Soto

San Diego Histories Covering the region of San Diego County

http://pages.hotbot.com/edu/chcc/sdhstry.html

Historical sites, plus current archeological research and events.

Sent by Johanna de Soto         
                                                                                                    Return to Table of Contents

A Multimillion-dollar study is hoping to use DNA to link people with no recorded family history to their ancestral homelands.  The program, funded by philanthropists James Sorenson and Arizona's Ira Fulton, will take the DNA from volunteers and match it with the family genealogies.

The genetic markers in DNA data with the ancestral history will allow researchers to create a map placing certain genes in specific places and times.  The information could help individuals with no recorded family history locate their ancestral homelands simply by taking a blood test.  Researchers also hope to be able to track the migration of gene pools around the globe.

"We hope this becomes the premier genetic genealogical reference database in the world," said project director Scott Woodward, a BYU microbiologist.  "What we hope to do is to reconstruct ancient gene pools - what did the genes look like a different place at various times in the past?  Then we can go to an unknown individual and tell them what gene pool their genes came from.

Associated Press via Denver Post, 10-20-00                                         Return to Table of Contents

The new CD contains a wealth of information, including the names, birth years and dates of voyages of some 90,000 LDS passengers who came to America between 1840-1890.  It also contains extensive, searchable accounts of the voyages.  The comprehensive list of accounts may well provide first-time information for many researchers.

Available from LDS Church, 1-800-537-5971

TEXAS

Molecular Genealogy Fireside Scheduled
at the McAllen Family History Center
January 20, 2001, 9:00 am
200 West La Vista Avenue
McAllen, Texas (956-682-1061)

Brigham Young University (BYU) Professor Ugo Perego of the Molecular Genealogy Research Project will be speaking.  He will be accompanied by a research team who will be there to take blood samples in an adjoining gymnasium.. Phase One has the BYU researchers traveling from country-to-country collecting 100,000 blood samples for DNA. Once all of the genetic samples are collected, the project will move into Phase Two of their research by creating a private database in order to analyze and to record the genetic markers for all ethnic, tribal, familial and geographic groups.

This DNA analysis can prove especially helpful to those whose ancestry lacks surname identification or for whom records were not created. In addition to eventually helping to find the person's ancestral homesthrough genetic analysis, participation in the project confers additional
benefits, to include the folowing:
---Preservation of each participant's unique genetic code for his or her descendants;
---Cross matching of participants' DNA to determine consanguinity (if they are related);
---Verifying existing genealogical records;
---Discriminating among potential ancestors with similar names, such as from men named John Smith living in New York City in 1860.

http://www.molecular-genealogy.byu.edu/

Dennis V Carter
Rt 2 Box 113-10
Alamo TX 78516
956-783-4958
dvcarter@juno.com (using this e-mail address is the preferred communication)
Pre-registration requested.

Sent by George Gause
                                                                                                             Return to Table of Contents

                                              Dr. Clotilde Perez Garcia, 
                             Genealogist, Political Activist, Community Treasure

If you are a Texas researcher or political activist the name of Clotilde Perez Garcia will be very
familiar.  A beautiful article was published in the Caller-Times November 12  written by Leanne Libby. Dr. Cleo, as she is known, is a remarkable woman.   She was a woman very much ahead of her time, not only as a Latina.  The following is a timeline of some outstanding milestones, but please read the entire article. 

TEXAS LAND TITLE ABSTRACTS

This database is a quick and ready reference to original land grants in Texas issued by the successive governments of Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and the State of Texas. It lists, by counties, the names of the original grantees (the individuals or companies that obtained the initial right to claim part of the public domain), the patentees (the person or company listed on the patent that formally conveys land out of the public domain at the conclusion of the land granting process), the land grant class, the location of the corresponding file and patent in the archives of the Texas General Land Office, the date of patent, and the acreage. These original land grant records are maintained by the Archives and Records Division of the Texas General Land Office (TGLO) and are arranged by the 38 land districts into which the 254 counties of Texas are divided. The database page's extended description shows the three-letter code for each land district. 

For an overview of Texas land grants and a description of land grant categories (headrights, military grants, scrip) visit  http://www.glo.state.tx.us/archives/info.html

A brief history of land grant in Texas will be found at http://www.glo.state.tx.us/history

This database includes only original land grants. Records pertaining to all subsequent sales, conveyances, transfers, or alienations of the land should be sought in the county deed records of the county or counties where the land is located.

The Texas General Land Office offers a name search service on names found in this database. The name submission form can be accessed from the main database page at http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/inddbs/5112.htm

Visit this page for more information about the service and other database details.

Source Information: Ancestry.com, "Texas Land Title Abstracts." (database online] Provo, UT: http://www.Ancestry.com , 2000.

Original Data: Texas General Land Office. "Abstracts of All Original Texas Land Titles Comprising Grants and Locations." Austin, Texas:

SOURCE: Angel Brown, Lexington, Texas

Cowboy Cupid: Service Matches American Men with Mexican Wives

Ivan Thompson, 58, says of the more than 400 couples who have met and  married  through his service he knows of no more than 40 divorces.  Thompson, who works from a trailer next to his home in Columbus, 65 miles west of El Paso, credits American feminism for making his business flourish.

"Lots of single men over here are looking for marriage, but they don't like the select they get at home, "  Thompson said. "They want to try something different.  They're tired of women's lib."

The idea for making money from lonely hearts came from Thompson's own experience. Divorced after 17 years, Thompson placed an ad in a Ciudad Juarez newspapers.  It said that an American man was looking for a Mexican wife.  He got 80 responses. "Most of them were educated, real nicely dressed and pretty."

If a love connection is successful, the Mexican woman and her children, if she has any, usually end up in the United States. Thompson charges $2,000 to take an American man on a four-day trip into the interior of Mexico to find a wife.

According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, a U.S. citizen who married a foreign citizen can file for a "fiancee visa."  The couple must demonstrate that it is more than just a casual relationship, by such things as phone calls or letter," said Paul Bergeron, an INS spokesman in Washington. 

If the petition is approved, the woman can enter the United States for 90 days.  Marriage must occur during that time.  Two years must pass before the new wife is eligible for permanent residency.  At that time, her husband may petition to remove his mate's "conditional" status.

Simply put: the man is looking for marriage; the woman also wants marriage, along with an opportunity to come to the United States.  "That in and of itself doesn't make the marriage improper or illegal," Mr. Bergeron said.

 "I thought maybe five or six women would show up.  But when the first 10 showed up, and they were all gorgeous. . .  As far as I'm concerned, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me," said Phil Ormon of Dalhart, Texas. 

The Dallas Morning News, 2-13-00

For more Mr. Thompson has written a book: Cowboy Cupid: Mail Order Brides and Other Tales from the Desert Southwest.   
Shared by Ron Arms                                                                        Return to Table of Contents

Roma City web site: http://www.cityofroma.net/
Las Familias de Marin http://www.geocities.com/jofogo/ 

sent by George Gause

Goliad

 250 years of settlement tradition in the Goliad heritage region. There are several events scheduled, among them  were  style demonstrations, re-enactments and performances from historical periods ranging from Native American/Spanish Colonial beginnings to the early 1900's - And much, much more.

Event  were held at three accessible locations: 
Goliad Courthouse Square, Mission Espiritu Santo/Goliad State Historic Park, Presidio La Bahia

 Sent by Josie Trevino Trevino, Los Bexarenos Genealogical Society
josiett3@aol.com

 Texas Historic Cemetery Project Needs You

The goal of the Texas Historic Cemetery Project is to preser4ve the 50,000 historic cemeteries of Texas. Information is solicited trough an application process. Contact: Gerron Hite, Texas Historical commission, P.O. Box 12276, Austin, Texas 78711-2276, for more information, check the website: www.thc.state.tx.us Or email thc@thc.state.tx.us

The Family Tree, October/November 2000

SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES

An Alternative History of Arizona
The land that is now Arizona was once the northern frontier of Mexico. But what happened to the Mexican families that came here in the 19th century and started towns, farms, and businesses?

The Mexico/Arizona Biographical Database is now online!
http://www.mexicoarizona.com/author.htm 
There are biographical records on more than 18,000 Hispanic individuals, most of whom lived in Arizona before 1875.

Scott Solliday, a curator and historian, has worked in Arizona history museums for 16 years. He is now an author and consultant, and is writing biographies of Mexican Arizonans, and a history of the Arizona cotton industry.

Sent by Johanna de Soto                                                                   Return to Table of Contents     

 Ronstadt family Site  This internet exhibition records the contributions of a pioneer Tucson family and features some of the abundant historical materials relating to Tucson's past, which are preserved for posterity in the Special Collections department at The University of Arizona Library.

http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/ronstadt/

Johanna de Soto

Durango Project: Rio Grande Historical Collections
New Mexico State University Library

http://archives.nmsu.edu/rghc/durango/abtproj.html

The Durango Microfilming Project is a cooperative effort involving the Archdiocese of Durango, Mexico, the Universidad Juarez del Estado de Durango, the Instituto de Investigaciones Históricos de UJED, the Archivo Histórico del Estado de Durango and The Rio Grande Historical Collections at New Mexico State University. The purpose of the project is to microfilm the contents of the Historical Archives of the Archdiocese of Durango and important portions of the Historical Archive of the State of Durango.

Submitted by Johanna de Soto

New Mexico

Before there ever was a State of New Mexico, the growth of Nuevo Mexico was being tabulated by the Archdiocese of Durango, Mexico. Austin Hoover, director of the Rio Grande Historical Collections at the New Mexico State University Library, said official records from the archdiocese include census data from as early as the 1600s.

According to Hoover, the Archdiocese of Durango conducted a census of people and their possessions primarily to determine the amount of contributions the church could expect to receive.  "They were taking a census of each parish and sending the information back to Durango to determine how successful each mission was," Hoover said.

The Durango census counted people and their possessions, including their livestock, and the yield of grain and wine.

http://www.nmsu.edu/~ucomm/Releases/2000/mar2000/census.html

Johanna de Soto

SAN FELIPE DE NERI CHURCH IN ALBUQUERQUE - DEATHS 1726 TO 1776
Taken from LDS reel number 0016645

http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ecarnuel/deathrec.html

Extracted by Jackie Garcia-Luna. Only name of person buried or died, identifying information such as age, whether child or adult, residency, ethnicity, and spouse or parents were extracted verbatim as the information appeared in the record. These are not complete records, however, but rather a combination of the information written in the margin and within each record entry. What was excluded in most entries was information such as the cause of death (unless at the hands of enemy Indians, these were included) and whether and which sacraments were received, e.g. penance, extreme unction, beatification, etc. If place of death and/or burial was in Albuquerque, this was not noted, (so assume Albuquerque if not noted) but if it took place elsewhere, e.g. Tome or la Alameda, this was noted. Please verify record by checking original entry on microfilm reel.

United States Internet Genealogical Society, Military Collection

Sent by Johanna de Soto                                                               Return to Table of Contents

EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI

"Spain's Lousiana Patriots in in its 1779-1783 War with England 
During the American Revolution." 
By Dr. Granville W. and N.C. Hough

This is the sixth study we have undertaken of Spain's patriots in its 1779-1783 War with England, during the Revolutionary War; and it covers Louisiana, West Florida, East Florida, and related areas under Spanish control at the time.  As we have worked our way across the Spanish Borderlands from California to Florida, we believe we have gained an appreciation of Spanish activities beyond that held by historians who have preceded us in recording the soldiers of Louisiana.  Their interest has been in identifying the units and individuals of Louisiana who served, with little attention paid to the Spanish soldiers, mariners, and volunteers who constituted the bulk of the forces involved.

We know there were over 10,000 persons involved in the various army, naval, and mariner units of Spain and France, with about 2000 of the number coming from the militia, Indians, or other forces normally indigenous to or assigned to Louisiana.  We believe we have doubled the number of identified persons whose service would qualify descendants to join the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) or the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).  We regret that we have been unable to travel to the libraries which hold additional information, but we have done what we could using interlibrary loan resources.  We believe there are at least 6000 persons yet to be named as soldiers, sailors, or other patriots, serving along with General Gálvez.

We have prepared a consolidated list, with asterisks used to designate those for whom we believe records are suitable as documentation of service during the war.  We have also include others who were of a suitable age, but for whom we did not see documentation.  In our previous studies, we included lists of males over 18 who may have contributed to the war fund set up by King Carlos III for defraying expenses of the war.  We found no direct record of contributions collected in Louisiana.  It seems that there would have been collections, as many of the people were more able to contribute than those of New Mexico or California.  We did find evidence of contributions in Cuba, which was under the same military jurisdiction.  We also found no direct record of priests actually carrying out the request of King Carlos III to pray for victory.  We assume they did, so priests are included as patriots.  As priests left no descendants, the SAR interest is in finding and marking their burial sites.

Our presentation outline includes an introduction, a summary time line, then a listing of units involved in each engagement or campaign, then a listing of persons involved, then a list of references which may be useful to other researchers. 

 gwhough@earthlink.net                                                                       Return to Table of Contents

Unrecognized Minority Groups Serving Under General Bernardo Gálvez

                                                 by Dr. Granville W. Hough

When studying membership lists of U. S. patriotic organizations, it is notable that certain groups have not been honored by their descendants. It is not prudent to say this is the fault of the patriotic organizations, such as the DAR or the SAR, or the fault of the descendants. At least now, if not before, descendants can honor their Patriot ancestors.

Under General Gálvez were Spanish, French, German, English, and assorted others of European stock. Also with him at Baton Rouge, Mobile, and Pensacola were soldiers of American Indian and African stock, as well as mixes of these races with the Europeans. All fought bravely, and all deserve to be recognized.

When Gálvez first moved against Manchac and Baton Rouge, he called on Louisiana Indians for help; and they responded with all the fighting braves they could spare. The village chiefs came separately to Natchitoches and took the oath of allegiance to the Spanish crown. We have their names, but we have not recovered the names of the 160 warriors who actually served.

1. Chief KYAAVADOUCHE of the Nadaque Nation, 74 warriors.

2. Chief COCAILLE of the Yatasse Nation, 16 warriors.

3. Chief YAMOH of the Natchitoches Nation, 13 warriors.

4. Chief QUENSY of the Adayes Nation, 16 warriors.

5. Chief CAPOT of the Bydaye Nation, 7 warriors.

6. Chief TYNIQOUAN of the Grand Cadoe Dahiou Nation, 77 warriors.

7. (chief deceased) of the Petite Cadoe Dahiou Nation, 58 warriors.

8. Chief NICOTAGUE-NANAN of the Quy de Singeo Nation, 54 warriors.

When Gálvez got to Mobile, he either recognized or organized the Compañia de Negros de la Mobila, commonly known as the "Compañia de Petit Jean." Activities of this company were frequently mentioned in records for Mobile, even though there were only 18 men. The Company Commander was Petit Jean, a free mulato, formerly slave to Louis Lusser of Mobile. Next in command was Corporal Garcí/García. Others who have been identified were Joseph Agustín, Agustín Badon, Cupidón Badon, Ambrosio Benoit, Andrés Chastán, Nicolás Chastán, Sinegal Chastán, Joseph Dubrocar, Jean Luis Duret, Luis Duret, Joseph Forgeron, Joseph Livois, David Medair, Philipe Narbonne, Príncipe Orbane, and Will Trouiller/Truillet.

Another organized unit of black soldiers was the company of the Moreno Battalion of Havana which found itself at Mobile for the British counterattack on the Village on 7 Jan 1781. They were from an infantry battalion of free blacks assigned to the Fall, 1780, attack on Pensacola which was destroyed by hurricane. Their transport ship had managed to take refuge from the storm in the Mobile harbor, and they were assigned to prepare for British counterattack. With others, they held the line at the Village in fierce fighting, forcing the British into retreat.

They later served at Pensacola. Only the names of the dead and wounded have been recovered. Also serving at Mobile were blacks or mixed race people who were generally slaves from New Orleans or Mobile on loan to Gálvez by their owners. Some had special skills, while others were simply strong workers. They included: 
Alexos, laborer, from Mr. LeBlanc of New Orlean:s
 Apolon, laborer from Mr. Cristóbal of German Coast, 
Bacus, worker at the fort, from Madame Fortier of New Orleans; 
Bacus, from Mr. LaBranch of New Orleans; 
Pierre Boissieux, blacksmith; 
Carlos/Carlos de Cadefiel, mulato laborer from Mr. Tizoneaux of New Orleans; Cristóbaland Estevan, laborers, from Mr. Bernoudy of New Orleans; 
Negro Flon, blacksmith; 
Francisco, laborer from Madame Trepanier of New Orleans; 
Francisco and Guilhaume, laborers, from Mr. Bienvenu from New Orleans; 
Francisco, from Mr. LaMaziere of New Orleans; 
Honoré, special confidence missions, slave of Felicité Detrian; 
Hoyos, blacksmith; 
Jacabo and  Maturin, laborers, slaves of Mr. Duparc of New Orleans; 
Mulato Libois;
Louis, from Mr. St. Martín of New Orleans; Negro Mangula; 
Marcus, of Mobile Plaza; 
Phelipe, laborer, from Mr. Donoy of New Orleans; 
Pedro, from Mr. Colin Latour of New Orleans, 
Samacón, blacksmith;
  and Sanson, from Mr. DuGruize of New Orleans.

Another group important at Mobile were the slaves captured on the plantations near Mobile. They were fed and sustained by the Spanish and put to work on the fortifications or in other support roles. The names of many of this group are known as well as their fate. Under terms of surrender, they were returned to their pre-attack owners.

References:

Allan J. Kuethe, Cuba, 1753-1815, Crown, Military, and Society, Knoxville, TN, The University of Tennessee Press, 1986.

Elizabeth Shown Mills. Natchitoches Colonials - Censuses, Military Rolls, and Tax Lists, 1722-1803, Chicago, IL, Adams Press, 1981.

F. de Borja Medina Rojas, José de Espelita: Governor of Mibila, 1780-1781, Sevilla (Spain), Publicaciónes de la Escula de Estudios Hispanos Americanos de Sevilla, 1980.

Anglo-Americans in Spanish Archives, 
Lists of Anglo-American Settlers in the Spanish Colonies of America 
by Lawrence H. Feldman

From the principal archives in Seville, Spain, the compiler has extracted the names of about 7,000 Anglo-American settlers from census lists, lists of landowners, and slave owners, and arrival lists.  Mr. Feldman has compiled name lists and associated data (places of residence, dates, occupations, etc.) from the records dealing with Mobile and Tombeche (Alabama) Pensacola and Saint Augustine (Florida) Baton Rogue (Louisiana), Natchez and Nogales (Mississippi) and New Madrid (Missouri).  

A totally unique and an otherwise inaccessible body of data. 349 pages, indexed, cloth, 
was $30, now $15.  Postage and handling (U.S.) $3.50

Clearfield Company at>   http://GenealogyBookShop.com

Clearfield Company, Inc.
200 E. Eager St.
Baltimore, Maryland  21202

Choctaw and Illini Descendants of Pierre Juzan 
 Eligible for SAR membership

                                                     by Dr. Granville Hough

"WalkSlowly," an Illini Indian descendant, aka James Alfred Locke Miller, Jr, asked me earlier this year to be on the lookout for records of his French ancestor, Don Pedro Juzan, who had married among the Choctaws and had become Indian Commissioner for the Spanish during the American Revolution. The Juzan descendants became Choctaw leaders, moved with them to Oklahoma, and later intermarried with the Illini. I had no idea where these records would be found, but they did show up very clearly in documentation on Mobile after it capture and during its Governorship by Don José de Ezpeleta in 1780-81.

The exact reference is F. de Borja Medina Rojas, José de Ezpeleta,Gobernador de la Mobila, 1780-1781, Sevilla, 1980, and Pedro Juzan and his work is mentioned or described in over 25 different pages. The book is in Spanish, and it would require a good linguist to get all the phrasing done correctly; however, the gist is clear. Immediately after the capture of Mobile, the residents who were willing took the oath of allegiance to the Spanish government on 22 Mar 1780. Among these were several Frenchmen like Pedro Juzan who had been looking forward to a Spanish victory, as their sympathies were with Spain, not with England.

Juzan, whose full name was Sieur Jean Pierre Gabriel François Juzan, soon offered his services to the Spanish authorities. His special skills were that he had become a merchant and trader among the Choctaws under the French (before 1763), then under the British, that he had a Choctaw wife and family, that he was fluent in Choctaw and related Chickasaw and Creek languages, and that he knew the Tombigee River country and its inhabitants as well as the lands and leaders of the Choctaw nation. His Choctaw home was in what is now Jasper County, MS, and his business outlet in Mobile. His first assignment was as War Captain of the Tombigbee District, and he was instrumental in maintaining order and arresting several pro-British provocateurs in that district. Then in the Fall of 1780, he was appointed Indian Commissioner, and he was of great assistance in guiding the Choctaws away from their British allegiance to the Spanish and later to the Americans.

Juzan's descendants were Choctaw tribes people who moved with the tribe to Oklahoma in the 1830 decade. Later they made the Illini connection. Thus it is that all descendants of Don Pedro Juzan are invited to join the Sons of the American Revolution.

                                                                                                          Return to Table of Contents

El Camino Real extended across the country, serving as one of the major toutes west from Lousiana to Californa during the Gold Rush. Today, the route originally traced by Native peoples and then Spanish settlers is still used by immigrants from Mexico, Central and south America, seeking a new and better life in the United States. It is this story that the Tierra Adentro Project seeks to tell.

http://www.tierraadentro.com/                                                            Sent by Johanna de Soto

Special Collections & University Archives
Christianity Among the Indians of the Americas

General Information

The Marquette University Archives is committed to documenting the ongoing story of Christianity in Native North America. Since 1977, the department has acquired the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions records and 16 other collections. This material documents the histories of urban and rural missions and parishes; the values and attitudes of clergy, religious, and laity; the history and customs of Indian tribes; and the cultural interaction between Native Americans, church leaders, and U.S. government officials. Documentation is significant for tribes within Alberta and Ontario, Canada; Chiapas, Mexico; and 17 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. In addition, the library's general collection holds over 30,000 related titles.

http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/indians.html
Submitted by Johanna de Soto                                                           Return to Table of Contents

EAST COAST

The story of María Gertrudis Hernández may not be the usual experience of Latin American urban women of one hundred and eighty years ago, but common or not, it is often an untold history. The Guadalajara Censuses Project (GCP) is an attempt to change this. Funded by an U. S. National Endowment for the Humanities (Division of Preservation and Access) grant of $114,000, the GCP is a multi-national, inter-disciplinary project whose primary objective is to provide bilingual access to the rich statistical resources of historical Guadalajara for scholars, students and the general public alike. We are particularly concerned to create a useful database for genealogists and family historians, and have paid close attention to rendering the surnames with accuracy. In return we hope that family historians will be encouraged to explore the daily life of the city which can be found in the carefully compiled and amazingly detailed census data.

For all current and future projects, the GCP will offer a user guide specifically crafted for persons with little background in statistics, and designed not only for scholars but for students and the general public as well. Moreover, the CD-ROM will offer the data in a number of formats, to accommodate as many different users as possible. Also accompanying the data base will be a series of historical essays designed to provide historical background to the data, and to understand the special circumstances surrounding the census of 1821 and the highly unusual "follow-up" census of 1822, all available currently on our Web site. We are contemplating also offering a scanned version of the data, as they appear on the census manuscript pages of each district in the city. This would allow users to develop their own coding schemes, to critique the one used by the GCP, or just view the original for a sense of what an early nineteenth century census manuscript looked like.

The 1821 and 1822 census data are a particularly rich window onto early nineteenth century urban life and times. Within the well-preserved parchment-quality paper one will encounter the names, ages, marital status and occupations of nearly sixty thousand individuals, their social status (the hidalguía, or don/doña), often their race and even their birthplace. Unlike most contemporary censuses the Guadalajara population count provides that data for all its residents, not just the heads of households. By comparison, the first individual-level U.S. city census is Boston in 1845. In terms of data quality, the Guadalajara censuses are on a par with the fine Parisian census of 1817 and better than nearly all other European city censuses of that era. With a population of 40,000, Guadalajara was larger than all but a handful of cities in the United States and Mexico, and among the largest interior cities in the hemisphere.

                  Origins of the Guadalajara Census Project

The roots of the Guadalajara Census Project go back to 1978. While researching in the Guadalajara Municipal Archives I became aware of the existence of a considerable number of city population censuses spanning several centuries. Although scholars knew of the existence of the data, little had been published. The Guadalajara Censuses Project itself, however, originated in 1992 in my Urban History graduate seminar at Florida State University. As a vehicle to provide practical training in writing, editing and publishing, students and the instructor founded the Urban History Workshop (UHW), followed in the fall of 1993 by a newsletter, Urban History Workshop Review. Since its inception, the UHWR has been edited by Burt Kirkwood, Department of History, Evansville University, then a FSU graduate student. To date, the Review has published five editions, the last three jointly sponsored by the Department of History at FSU and the University of Evansville.

In 1993 the UHW carried out a preliminary study designed to test the feasibility of creating a data base from two population censuses of Guadalajara in 1821 and 1822. With the results of that study in hand, the UHW organized a series of three day workshops led by scholars from outside the university in the academic year of 1993-94. Out of the workshops evolved the formally-constituted Guadalajara Censuses Project. A Board of Advisors was assembled, including Luís González, widely acknowledged as Mexico’s foremost living historian, Guillermo Peña (Director of CIESAS de Occidente) and Carmen Castañeda, well-known historian of colonial Guadalajara. Other members of the board are Tomas Calvo (France); David J. Robinson, Department of Geography, Syracuse Un.; Eric Van Young, Department of History, University of California-- San Diego; Robert McCaa, Department of History, University of Minnesota; Michael Scardaville, Department of History, University of South Carolina; Asuncion Lavrin, Department of History, Arizona State University; Margo Anderson, University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee. At some point a decision was made to approach the National Endowment for the Humanities for funding to make a permanent, accessible data base from the Guadalajara censuses of 1821 and 1822. The Urban History Workshop's long range plans are to computerize the other city censuses. Partial and full censuses are available for the years 1792, 1811, 1813, 1821, 1822, 1824, 1839, 1888 and 1930. In addition, the UHW has collected aggregate social data for Guadalajara from the national censuses of 1895, 1900 and 1910, a complete city business census for 1880, and an industrial census for 1907, enough, certainly, to keep us busy well into the next millennium.

Creating the 1821 and 1822 censuses database has involved three separate procedures–entering the "liberal" data found on the manuscript pages, cleaning and consolidating that information, and, finally, the coding and entering what are called "constructed" variables. In December 1999, the Guadalajara Censuses Project completed literal data entry for 1821-22 censuses, entering the last of the 57,075 cases. In practical terms, besides the sequential, tracking and missing data codes, this means that we entered nearly all the data written on the manuscript pages of the censuses for Guadalajara, Mexico, for 1821 and 1822 : names, ages, race, marital status, title (e.g., licenciado), social status (the hidalguía), occupation, place of birth, residence type and various sequential or index type of identifying numbers, usually no more than twenty pieces of information ("variables") for any particular cuartel.

Our total of 57,075, however, includes vacant houses, which the official counts did not. More importantly, however, we were able to substitute census data for 1822 from lists of heads of households for seven of eleven districts for which no census manuscripts have survived. Besides their names, the head of household lists usually provided occupations, occasionally street and block addresses, and often comments on their financial situation or even amounts given to the city’s "voluntary" tax campaign, for which the lists were compiled. Therefore, while information on family members are lacking, we do have valuable data on heads of households. We also entered some 350 individuals from the city’s jails, monasteries and charity houses.

At the time of this writing (October 2000) this process was for the most part completed and the project staff engaged in coding and entering approximately forty "constructed" variables. Those include family data such as position in the household of all its members (head, spouse, children, kin, boarders), data on migrants, number of employed persons in the household, number of servants, etc., all designed to facilitate the statistical analysis of the city’s population. The codes are handwritten onto forms on which have been printed the earlier-entered cases, by name. When all the records for a cuartel (ward) are coded, then those codes are entered onto a file containing the original literal data. A complete list and explanation of the variables is available at PCP Web site http://www.fsu.edu/~guadalaj

Finally, the Guadalajara Censuses Project is a project in the making. Future expansion of the GCP depends in good measure on renewal of the National Endowment for the Humanities funding, and that is by no means certain. None the less, institutional support from Florida State University remains strong and we have every reason to believe that the GCP will continue on into this decade. In particular we would like to express our appreciation to Richard Greaves, Chair of the Department of History, and to Donald Foss, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, both of whom who have consistently and generously supported the GCP over the past years. From an earlier time, former History Department chair Neil Betten, and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean (now Provost) Larry Abele enabled the Urban History Workshop to get off the ground, and therefore paved the way for the GCP. Finally, much of the success of this project goes to loyal, hard-working and capable staff members Mary Cooney, Tamara Spike, Monique Bryan-Lopez, Yamile Regalado, Michael Powelson, Travis Hyer, Monica Hardin, Kristen Collins, Nashma Carrera, Sherri Reinhardt, Wayne Harden and Leo Weimern Without them, this project would have been the poorer, and certainly far less enjoyable.

                                       CD-ROM Available

Announcement on the availability and cost of the CD-ROM latter this year will be made in Somos Primos, as will news on the success of our search for future funding. We may also be contacted at my e-mail address randerso@mailer.fsu.edu or by mail, at the Department of History, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 32306.

BSI International, Inc.,  P.O. Box 3885   Philadelphia, PA  19146    (215) 244-7936

Genealogy for African Americans

http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdaahgs
Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, 
P.O. Box 73086, Washington, D.C. 20056-3086

In a conference room at Oakland's Eastmont Branch library, Peggy Woodruff is offering 10 adult students some advice for embarking on a genealogical journey. The roots of this journey are painful for many African Americans. Woodruff volunteers at the Family History Center of the Oakland Temple, where she helps patrons investigate their roots. The center, which logs about 1,500 visitors monthly, keeps census reports dating back to 1790, along with death, military, immigration and other records.

Sent by Gloria Oliver

Latino Sports Legends

Latino sports legends unveiled a new look in October -giving  easier access to their sections, while adding some new ones, like a photo gallery and an online store (coming soon).

http://www.latinosportslegends.com

Examples:
New audio and video clips at our Multimedia Gallery.Listen to Tony Perez, Orlando Cepeda, Adrian Fernandez, Sammy Sosa, Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya and others at our multimedia gallery. Over 20 audio/video clips including some new ones on the upcoming Trinidad - Vargas fight and a great clip of Don King comparing Trindad and Vargas to "Forces of Nature".
http://www.latinosportslegends.com/multimedia_gallery.htm

Luis Tiant's career stats and highlights.  "El Tiante" Luis Tiant had some great seasons with the Indians, Red Sox and Yankees in the 1960's & 70's. One season he had an incredible 21-9 record with a 1.60 ERA. Take a look at the career stats and highlights of this twisting and twirling pitching sensation who somehow is still overlooked in getting inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
http://www.latinosportslegends.com/Tiant_Luis-career_stats_highlights.htm

Sammy Sosa High Heat 2000 baseball game is now in stores. Just in time for Christmas, 3DO has released Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001 Championship Edition game for PC. This is the latest edition of last year's "Sports Game of the Year" and it's sure to be as big as many of Sammy's home runs. http://www.latinosportslegends.com/Sosa's_high_heat_baseball_game-101700.htm

Download a FREE Trinidad - Vargas wallpaper for your computer. Get ready for the upcoming Trinidad - Vargas fight by downloading a free wallpaper of both boxers with Don King. 
http://www.latinosportslegends.com/freestuff.htm

                                                                                                       Return to Table of Contents

MEXICO

           LDS CHURCH PRODUCES VITAL RECORDS INDEX FOR MEXICO

http://www.lds.org/media2/newsrelease/0,5637,203-1-3066,FF.html

The Church announced the release of a new CD-ROM product called "The Middle America-Mexico Vital Records Index," which includes 1.9 million birth and christening and 300,000 marriage records from Mexico. The partial listing of records covers the years from 1659 to 1905.  See the news release for online ordering and other information.

The set of four data CD's can be purchased for $10 at the LDS Church distribution centers or by calling toll free 1-800-537-5971 and ask fro item #50163.  It can also be ordered on the Internet at: http://www.familysearch.org

Sent by Gloria Oliver

                                                           MENSAJERO

Readers are invited to receive the Mensajero by Mtro.Sergio A. Corona Páez, Coordinator of Historic Archive UIA Laguna.  The Historic Archives of the Universidad Iberoamericana Laguna (in Torreon, Mexico) issues the MENSAJERO, every two weeks.  It is  a virtual magazine on history, documents and literature.  It is available for anyone who wish to receive it, completly free, in Spanish. Just ask to be suscripted to this address:

El archivo del Cabildo Metropolitano es el acervo documental generado en la administración, por el Cuerpo Colegiado de Canónigos de la Catedral Metropolitana de la Arquidiócesis de México.

Se encuentra situado en el piso superior del edificio anexo a la Catedral. Su consulta puede hacerse por medio de microfilms que existen de la documentación.Para ello se requiere de los siguientes requisitos:

a) Ser investigador de las áreas de Historia, Arte, Cultura y Sociedad.

b) Carta de presentación de la Institución a la que se pertenece, dirigida al Canónigo Sacristán Mayor de la Catedral, con copia para el responsable del Archivo

http://www.arzobispadomexico.org.mx/catedral/
archivocabildo.htm

Submitted by Johanna de Sotos

CARIBBEAN/CUBA

Though most of the missionaries sent to California by the Franciscan order during the Spanish colonization era were Spaniards, some were "criollos" or born in the newly-colonized lands.  Fr. Jose Antonio Calzada holds the distinction of being the only Cuban-born Franciscan missionary to serve in California.

His life and struggles as a missionary typify that of all early Spanish colonizers.  His dual roles, settler and priest, provide testimony of the spirit and zeal of most Franciscan missionaries on the Northern Borderlands frontier.

Fr. Calzada was born on the 24th of November 1760 in teh city of Trinidad located on the south central portion of Cuba.  His parents were Jose Calzada and Micaela de Cala. He became a Franciscan friar in Havana (La Habana), Cuba on the 3rd of February 1780.  He obtained a transfer to the College of San Fernando in Mexico City where he was ordained into the priesthood on the 18th of December 1784.

The mid-1780s marked the period of  Spain's great push to colonize "Alta" or Upper California because of the threat posed by the Russians in northern California.  Many of the new priests ordained at the College of San Fernando were assigned to the new California missions founded by Fr. Junipero Serra.  In October 1787, Fr. Calzada along with Frs. Jose Senan and Diego Garcia arrived in Monterey to being their mission.

From Monterey, Fr. Calzada traveled to the San Gabriel Mission where he served from the 21st of February 1788 to the 19th of October 1792.  during this four and a half year period, he also visited and briefly served at the mission of San Juan Capistrano, San Lusi Obispo and at Santa Barbara from September 1788 to January 1789 where he was probably transferred to help him heal the many bodily afflictions which life on the frontier had brought upon him.

By the mid-1790s, Fr. Calzada requested permission constantly to return to Mexico because his afflictions, hemorrhoids and headaches, made his life in California impossible.  On the 20th of July 1796, Fr. President Lasuén petitioned the governor to allow Calzada to return to the College of San Fernando to recover his health.  This petition was approved by the governor.

When Fr. Calzada's health improved, he again petitioned to return to California.  At the port of San Blás on the West Coast of Mexico, he boarded the ship "Concepción from 2 September 1798 to 25 August 1804.

On 17 September 1804, Fr. Calzada along with "Frs. Marcelino Ciprés and Romualdo Gutiérrez were appointed the missionaries of the new mission.  Except for brief periods in Santa Barbara and San Buenaventura, Fr. Calzada remained at Mission Santa Inés until his death.

Life in the Spanish frontier colonies was very difficult at best.  Although he suffered many afflictions, Fr. Calzada remained devoted to his duties until a stroke completely paralyzed him in 1812.  His name appears as the officiating priest of the first marriage and burial in the registers of Mission Santa Inés and he was present at the dedication of the new church at Mission San Buenaventura in 1809.

Completely paralyzed and unable to move, a chest congestion brought Fr. Calzada's life to an end on the 23rd of December 1814.  the next day, Frs. Uria, Ripoll and Olbés officiated at his funeral.  The Cuban missionary lies buried at the foot of the altar at Mission Santa Inés.  He gave his life to the service of God, his Church and the natives of California.   Return to Table of Contents

SPANISH DOCUMENTS COLLECTION

MARC's extensive collection of Spanish documents reflects the lengthy presence of Spain in Micronesia, beginning with Magellan's arrival in the Mariana Islands in 1521, and concluding with the loss of Spanish possessions in the pacific during the Spanish-American War in 1898. The Spanish Collection's documents include Spain's Pacific explorations, the Spanish galleon trade between Mexico and the Philippines, and the Spanish colonial administration in the Mariana and Caroline Islands. The Spanish Documents Collection's holdings include materials from the General Archives of the Indies in Madrid, the Philippine national Archives in Manila, the General Archives of the Nation in Mexico, the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, the Jesuit archives in Rome and Spain, and the Capuchin archives in Spain and Germany. The documents comprise more than 1000,000 pages of manuscripts and printed materials dating from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

For more information, please contact:
Omaira Brunal-Perry obrunal@uog9.uog.edu or
Marjorie G. Driver mgdriver@uog9.uog.edu
http://guahan.uog.edu/marc/spanish.htm

Submitted by Johanna de Soto                                                    Return to Table of Contents

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

La Jornada: Spanish language magazine

http://unam.netgate.net/jornada/
Sent by Johanna de Soto

L’Italia dei cognomi: Surnames in Italy

http://gens.labo.net/en/cognomi/genera.html
Sent by Johanna de Soto

Letters of Philip II, King of Spain, 1592 - 1597

Description of the Collection and its Historical Context

http://library.byu.edu/~rdh/phil2/blurb.html

Philip II, King of Spain - The Cuatro Villas de la Costa, Spain. A large and important collection of letters and other documents, almost all signed by the King, mainly to Diego de Orellana de Chaves, Corregidor of the Four Towns of the Sea on Spain's North Coast, on the naval war against England and France, etc. Spain (chiefly the various residences of the Court; Santander, Laredo, etc.), various dates from 20 November 1591 to 10 July 1597.

174 letters and documents, all in Spanish : 172 manuscript, 2 printed. All the manuscripts in contemporary Spanish secretarial hands, a few in the writers' autographs. 159 of the letters are from King Philip II, all signed : 52 with the King's autograph signature and 107 with official stamped facsimile signature; all the other documents signed autograph except for a very few contemporary secretarial copies. Many letters with contemporary wax impressions of the seals, and with contemporary endorsements. In all, 379 leaves : 184 1/2 pages written and 5 mainly printed. All folio or small folio (varying from about 315 x 220 mm. to about 280 x 205 mm.) A very few documents slightly frayed or stained, without impairment of the text : some trimmed at lower edge, losing no main text but occasionally having a portion of original summary or signed initials missing : all writing fine and clear. Cased, in a box.

The documents come from Orellana's archive as governor of the so-called "Four Towns," the Cuatro Villas of the Cantabrian coast, which were the only northern seaports lying in the principal Spanish kingdom of Castile, and hence more directly ruled by Philip than the autonomous Basque towns further east or the ports of Asturias and Galicia further west. Grouped under this title (recalling the comparable Cinque [actually, in the end, 7] Ports of the south coast of England) were the thriving harbors of Santander, Laredo, Casto Urdiales and San Vicente de la Barquera which, like the English Cinque Ports, had no overlord save the respective Crown. Through their corregidor, the Cuatro Villas de la Mar enjoyed much autonomy, having, e.g., the power to issue letters of marque or patents for privateering warfare on enemy shipping, the right to negotiate to pay a lump sum for their taxes in lieu of suffering a royal assessment, and the privileges of having royal forces billeted only by agreement and of securing leading positions in the Spanish Navy for mariners recruited in the Towns : all these powers are reflected in the present correspondence.

The main drama unfolded in this archive is that of Philip II's daring naval strategy for dispensing with major, Armada-type fleet assaults sent directly from Spain against England in favor of less dramatic but more damaging assaults on English and allied ports and shipping, and harassment of their trade and communications, creeping forward from advanced bases in Brittany to which the raging religious civil war offered Philip easy access (1592-1598). Such, in particular, were the great naval harbor of Brest behind Cape Finisterre ; the neighboring bay of Douarnenez dominated by the height of Crozon (often called by the English Croydon) which the Spaniards fortified almost impregnably ; and, further south, the most redoubtable and lasting Spanish base -- Blavet (now Port Louis), across the harbor from Lorient. These bases, originally seized from a paralyzed central government by the Duke of Mercoeur and ultra-Catholic Bretons under the influence of the Catholic League which opposed the accession of the Protestant Henri of Navarre (Henry IV) to the French throne left vacant by the death of the last Valois king in 1589, and which wanted Philip II's daughter there instead, were quickly made available to Philip should he want the bases nearer, and to the windward of, England, as the Armada campaign had shown he badly needed.

Distrusting his French allies, Philip quickly garrisoned the ports with Spanish troops -- shipped and supplied through the Four Towns -- and based powerfully-armed galleys and other vessels of war upon them, thereby providing five years of danger to English and Dutch Channel trade, often interrupting Queen Elizabeth's aid to Henry IV, and making necessary such dogged and expensive counter-attacks as that on Crozon in November 1593 which cost the life of the explorer and mariner Sir Martin Frobisher. Brest itself was held only until its recapture for Henry IV by the English in 1594, but Blavet was retained till Spain evacuated it voluntarily when Philip, at the end of his life, came to terms with the unchallengeable Henry in the Treaty of Vervins (1598). In the meantime, Spanish arms achieved several glorious feats, a whole generation of naval and military officers being trained under such outstanding captains as Don Diego Brochero, Don Pedro de Zubiaurre, Don Juan del Aguila (general of the force invading Ireland at Kinsale in 1600) and the engineer Cristóbal de Rojas, all of whom are frequently referred to in the present archive. The assaults on the English coast and shipping were far more devastating than anything the great Armada actually achieved, most notably the 1595 attack on Cornwall by Don Carlos de Amezola's four galleys, when neither the county authorities nor Sir Francis Drake at Plymouth could prevent Penzance, Newlyn and Mousehole being burnt.

Composition of the ArchiveThe documents are basically important on the direction of this important naval offensive against England, but they also include essential materials on the Spanish interest in Ireland and Scotland as well, of course, as in the civil wars of France : such are a 1592 letter directing aid to be given to the Spanish-backed Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, the ill-fated Edmund Macgauran who was infiltrated into Ireland by Spanish ships and killed there in 1594, and 1593 letters ordering searches for Scottish smugglers and spies and reporting the admissions of James VI of Scotland that his subjects were forging his licenses to sail. Besides highlighting the work of the main commanders mentioned, other pieces give further evidence on the activities of Martín de Bertendona, the admiral of Armada fame ; and one of the letters of marque is issued and signed by Orellana's predecessor Don Luis de Fajardo, later Captain-General of the treasure fleets and commander of the High Seas Fleet which swept the Caribbean clear of the Dutch in 1605. Some documents were drawn up, and were counter-signed, by the royal Secretary Juan López de Velasco, compiler of the first comprehensive geography of America, the great standard survey assembled from completed colonial questionnaires in the 1570's (see : J. Zaragoza [ed], Geografía y descripción universal de las Indias...de Juan López de Velasco [Madrid, 1894]; R. Beltrán y Rózpide, América en tiempo de Felipe II según el cosmógrafo-cronista Juan López de Velasco [Madrid, 1927], and more recent work on the Cosmographer). Extremely interesting at other points are orders given about the revenues of the dukedom of Infantado in the Four Towns, due to be paid to "Madama," i.e., Barbara von Blomberg, formerly mistress of the Emperor Charles V and mother of Don John of Austria (1547-1578), and about conserving the inheritance due to the heirs of Don John's servant, the former Secretary Juan de Escobedo, who had been embarrassingly done to death, with Philip II's connivance, by the King's secretary Antonio Pérez in 1578 -- a matter which at this time, now [that] Pérez had just taken refuge with Henry IV and was broadcasting Philip's secrets across both France and England, it must have been painful for the King to recall.

Included is a whole series of notable intelligence reports on English intentions, in a few cases received direct, but more often via Ireland, Flanders or France, and there are prominent references to Spanish counter-preparations, especially to the recruitment of pilots and the enlistment of mariners, particularly for the galleys at Blavet, to where, as these documents show, regular drafts of convicts were sent via the Cuatro Villas. Much attention is given to local levies and to the new national militia, and a great deal is said about the defenses of the Four Towns, especially the extension of the castle at Santander, which had been one of the 1588 Armada's principal ports of refuge, and was to have been attacked by Drake in the English campaign of 1589. Most interesting of all, besides the evidence of Philip II's favor to merchants in the Four Towns and his concern for the maintenance of the Cantabrians' northern fishery, are his concern to secure vital raw materials such as lead, hemp, salt, cordage and even paper, and his never-failing attention to such problems as plague in the ports (1597), increasing royal revenues and tax yields (both the printed documents of 1596, etc.), and secretly restricting the independence of the Inquisition and of its over-numerous Familiars (1595 : no. 113). One of the main aspects of the King's interest in writing to the Four Towns is, however, shown by his insistence on prompt reports about foreign merchants, ships and seamen, his requirements that censuses of shipping and mariners be made and his exhortation to train landsmen in fighting and seamanship : also made clear is the energy and versatility of his enthusiastic preparation of the new great royal galleons building at Santander (the "Twelve Apostle") to replace the disastrous losses suffered in 1588.

The documents are housed in chronological sequence and are all either addressed to Corregidor Orellana de Chaves or directly concern him : the patent of his initial appointment in 1592 is included, and so is a letter to himi from his son. Suych few of the letters as are not from the King himself are mainly signed or initialled by the Councillors of Castile : the letters signed with the King's stamped signature have, of course, status equal to those signed autograph, for stamping the royal signature was made usual practice in these last ten years of Philip's life when gout and other debilities were seizing hold of him, and the stamp was applied only by a royal Secretary with the Council's permission. The present documents seem never to have been employed by local historians, let alone national or maritime ones : hence they have so far contributed nothing to germane studies and were not drawn upon for standard works on naval warfare in the time of Philip II and Elizabeth I such as Sir Julian Corbett's Drake and the Tudor Navy (2 vols., London, 1898), or Captain Cesáreo Fernández Duro's Armada Española... Vol. III (Madrid, 1897), which set out to detail fighting in the Bay of Biscay and the Brittany campaigns. They seem to have remained unknown to more recent historians, and were omitted by Don Martín Fernández Navarrete from his great collection of transcripts now in the Museo Naval, Madrid (ultimately issued in the edition of Kraus Reprints, Nendeln, 1971), by M.A.S. Hume from the British Calendar of State Papers, Spanish (4 vols., London, 1892-99) and from the comprehensive index to Philip II's naval correspondence, V. Fernández Asís (comp.), Epistolario de Felipe II sobre asuntos de mar (Madrid, 1943).

HISTORY

Sequoia Genealogical Society, V.27, # 7, Sept 2000

There are Paine researchers who believe they descend from Thomas Paine, the Pamphleteer, which is very unlikely.  Thomas Paine had a wife and daughter in England, which he had deserted, so he could not marry in the Colonies. He had no known illegitimate offspring in America, and his child or children are not known to have left England. There were of course several Thomas Paines who served in the Revolutionary War, not related to the Pamphleteer, and they all had descendants.

There was a Jones who knew he descended from John Paul Jones, the famous sailor of the Rev. War. When I looked up the life of John Paul Jones, I found he never married and had no descendants. His name was not even Jones. He was John Paul, a Scotch sailor who was stranded in North Carolina until a family named Jones took him in. As a mark of gratitude, he added the name Jones and sailed under that name thereafter. 

It is always a terrible blow to SAR applicants to learn family traditions of heroic ancestors were just fanciful. 

Dr. Granville Hough, SAR Genealogist                                          Return to Table of Contents

                                           Some Facts to Ponder from the 1500's
                                                   Sent by Sam Quito Padilla

Next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be ...

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled
pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of
the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children--last
of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it--hence the
saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs--thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only
place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice rats, and bugs)
lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and
fall off the roof--hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the
bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor."

The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread
thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh
until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in
the entry way--hence, a "thresh hold."

They cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They
would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over
the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite awhile--hence the rhyme, "peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over,
they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and" chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the
lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from stale paysan bread which was so old and hard that they could use them for quite some time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms and mold got into the wood and old bread. After eating off  wormy moldy trenchers, one would get "trench mouth."

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got
the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would some times knock them out
for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up-hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small and they started out running out of places to bury people. So they would
dig up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening
these coffins, one out of five coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they
realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist
of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone
would have to sit out in the graveyard all night - "the graveyard shift" to listen for the bell; thus,
someone could be "saved by the bell", or was considered a "dead ringer".

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The Library of Congress National Digital Library Program and the Geography and Map Division announce collection number eighty-three at the American Memory on-line collections Web Site:

"The American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750-1789" at: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/grdhtml/armhtml/armhome.html

The collection presents an important historical record of the mapping of North America and the Caribbean on-line.  Advancements in mapmaking tools and the onset of the French and Indian War and, later, the American Revolution, created a flurry of activity in European and North American mapmaking and publishing.  This on-line collection will include well over two thousand different maps and manuscripts, with easily as many or more unnumbered copies, many with distinct colorations and annotations.  Over the next several years many of the maps and charts in this bibliography will be added to the on-line collection each month.  At this time, approximately 100 maps are being released.

CSGA Newsletter, Vol. 18, No. 9 (September 2000) 

The Index to Confederate Pension Applications

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/arc/pensions/introcpi.html

The Index to Confederate Pension Applications provides the names, county of residence, and pension number of some 54,634 approved, rejected, and home pensions issued by the Texas government between 1899 and 1975. The listing for a widow's pension includes her husband's name as it appears on her application form. If the husband also applied for a Texas Confederate Pension, the number of that pension (or the specification "Rejected" or "Home") is noted as well.

Confederate veterans and their widows were dependent upon the generosity of the already impoverished former Confederate states for any postwar pension benefits. In awarding pensions for Confederate service, Texas, like most other southern states, confined its relief payments to veterans or their widows resident in Texas since 1880 who were disabled or indigent. Therefore, the index of applicants for Confederate pensions in no way represents a complete roster of Texas residents who had fought for the Confederacy.

If you do not immediately find the name you are researching it might be because the person did not submit an application for a pension. However, the names in the listing are based on the spelling given on the endorsement page of the printed pension application form. If that name is somehow misspelled, the misspelling is reflected in the computer entry. (For example, a week before his death, W. C. Akin applied for a Confederate pension; subsequently his widow Susan applied for a pension in her own name. The request for records from the United States Adjutant General and many other affidavits in the pension application spell the name as Aiken.) Check all possible spellings of a veteran's surname before deciding that he or his widow did not apply for a pension.

The application forms and their attached records and correspondence are on file in the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. You may request copies of any of these files by phone, regular mail, or E-mail inquiry. To obtain an approved pension, give the applicant's name and pension number. If the Index lists the pension application as a Rejected or a Home pension, give the applicant's full name as it appears in the index, the county of residence, and "Rejected" or "Home," whichever is appropriate.

Each file will vary in number of pages and content; therefore, the Archives staff will copy each complete file requested and bill you for the total number of pages reproduced.

Sent by Johanna de Soto

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The following history  was taken from Ivan Flores de Ocaris book: “Genealogies of the New Kingdom of Granada”, printed in Madrid in 1624. It is the abstract of a information sent to 
 King Philip IV from Pedro de Rivadeneira. 

“Thirteen years after the Passion of Christ, disciples of Apostle St. James went by sea to Galicia, a Northwest Realm of the Iberia peninsula. Queen Lobo allowed them to disembark and the new comers asked for a cart and oxen to move the catafalque to be interred. The Queen sent them to the Holy Peak.   When they were attempting to cross, bulls charged toward the brave Christians. The Christians did not run, they kneeled and made the sign of the cross.  The wild bulls suddenly stopped their attack.

The Queen worried because of the power and presence of the foreigners.  Out of fear, she ordered them to be imprisoned. Some time later a young maiden of the Queen’s retinue went down into the dungeon. She was startled by a great radiance emanating from within their cell . The young maiden ran back upstairs to find the young Prince who had been born blind.  Leading him by the hand she took him into the dungeon.  Bathed in the radiance surrounding the Christians, the young Prince received a miracle.  

The Prince was able to see.  For the first time in his life, he could see!  It was a miracle whose story was told far and wide and resulted in the conversion of many to the Christian Faith. The Prince and the young lady were baptized in the shore (Riva in Spanish) of the Neira River and took the name Rivadeneira. This was the origin of a very important Spanish family that extended throughout Spain an the Americas in the 16th Century. One of them was my grandmother Lucila Rivadeneira”

                                                                       Dr. Jaime Gomez, Florida
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MISCELLANEOUS

THE TABLECLOTH

A beautiful true story with miraculous aspects

                                    Shared by Bonnie Castrey : BCastrey@earthlink.net

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, New York, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc. and on Dec 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On Dec 19 a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm - hit the area and lasted for two days.

On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in.

One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church. By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area.

Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet. "Pastor," she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?" The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria. The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth.

The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. She was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again. The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home, that was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service ,the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike?

He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.

True Story - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid, New York, NY 
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Un angel no nos escoge, Dios nos lo asigna.                   
Un amigo nos toma de la mano y nos acerca a Dios.

Un angel tiene la obligacion de cuidarnos.                               
Un amigo nos cuida por amor.

Un angel te ayuda evitando que tengas problemas.               
Un amigo te ayuda a resolverlos.

Un angel te ve sufrir, sin poderte abrazar.                        
Un amigo te abraza, porque no quiere verte sufrir.

Un angel te ve sonreir y observa tus alegrias.                         
Un amigo te hace sonreir y te hace parte de sus alegrias.

Un angel sabe cuando necesitas que alguien te  escuche.       
Un amigo te escucha, sin decirle que lo necesitas.

Un angel, en realidad es parte de tus sueños.                 
Un amigo, comparte y lucha por que tus sueños, sean una realidad.

Un angel siempre esta contigo ahi, sabe extrañarnos.    
Un amigo, cuando no esta contigo, no solo te extraña, tambien piensa en ti.

Un angel se preocupa cuando estas mal.                       
Un amigo se desvive porque estes bien.

Un angel recibe una oracion tuya.                                 
Un amigo hace una oracion por ti.

Un angel te ayuda a sobrevivir.                                   
Un amigo vive por ti.

Para un angel, eres una hermosa mision que cumplir.  
Para una amigo, eres un tesoro que defender.

Un angel, es algo celestial.            
Un amigo es la oportunidad de conocer lo mas hermoso que hay en la vida, "el amor y la amistad." 

Un angel quiere ser tu amigo. 
Un amigo, sin propornerselo, tambien es tu ANGEL

Sent by Lorraine Hernandez                                                             

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